Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama
Revolutionaries die, but the revolution don’t.
Hi all,
Thank you for joining me for this week’s song, Yuri Kochiyama, a 2011 song by Blue Scholars.
If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics. I’ve written the lyrics in italics. As with most everything, there are many ways to interpret things. I invite you to leave a question or comment at the end.
For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
If we can see the connections of how often this happens in history, we can stem the tide (stop) of these things happening again by speaking out against them.
- Yuri Kochiyama, American civil rights activist who experienced the imprisonment camps during World War II
A bit of background on the group Blue Scholars. The name is a reconstruction of the term “blue collar” as in blue-collar worker (労働者). The Blue Scholars are two hip hop artists from Seattle, Washington, who formed the group in 2002. George “Geo” Quibuyen raps about social issues that deal with racism and U.S. imperialism (帝国主義) in the Philippines. Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi creates the beats for the duo.
Background
(407 words)
Who was Yuri Kochiyama?
Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese-American, born and raised in California. Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. In February, 1942, the FBI started to arrest anyone who was of Japanese ancestry, whether they were American citizens or not. By the fall of 1942, 120,000 people had been taken into custody, forced to give up their jobs and their homes, and to take with them only what they could carry.
Yuri and her family lived in stables in Arcadia, California, for several months before being sent to an internment camp in the swamplands of Jerome, Arkansas.
The U.S. government decided that Japanese-Americans might work as spies and give military secrets to the Japanese through fishing in the Pacific. No evidence of this has ever been found.
Yuri had always been very patriotic, but her experience in the camps made her realize that the U.S. might not live up to its promise of “equality and justice for all”.
After the war, she experienced racism in employment and housing. Eventually, she and her husband, Bill Kochiyama, moved to New York and lived in Harlem where they raised their children. It was there that Yuri learned about the history of the Africans who were taken from African countries, brought on slave ships to the Americas, and sold into lives of slavery. She learned about how slave owners and the economic system benefitted from slavery. She learned how the system was arranged to keep non-whites from positions of power.
At that point, Yuri became part of the movement to improve conditions for all people who were oppressed. She wrote letters to political prisoners.
Malcolm X was a minister and a leader in the civil rights movement. He was also a controversial figure in the 1960s who said that Black Americans should protect themselves from violent whites “by any means necessary”.
Yuri met him one day, and he recognized her as a participant in the Black Power movement, and also as one of the oppressed. She continued her work, creating newsletters, flyers, and doing fund-raising projects.
Malcolm X gave a speech on 21 February 1965 in New York, and Yuri was in the audience. Some men stood up and started fighting. While the audience was watching them, other men shot Malcolm X. Yuri ran to the stage and held his head in her lap, talking to him. Malcolm died later that day.
In this song, the singer meets Yuri Kochiyama.
The Song
(703 words)
The opening lyrics set the scene:
I got that third world militant, still think it’s relevant,
Even if them kids copped the shirts and stopped wearin ‘em meaning that young people steal shirts, for example, of Che Guevara (the Marxist revolutionary who was a leader of the Cuban revolution) but, perhaps, don’t wear them any more.
The singer shows respect for someone (Yuri) who lifted other people and gave them hope:
Humbled in the presence of the veterans
And not the ones who picked up their guns
But who picked up their brethren and sister and
When the singer saw Yuri, she was probably in her 80s, and she was using a walker to help her get around. The “Free Mumia” sticker referred to Mumia Abul Jamal, an American political prisoner who was originally arrested for the murder of a policeman. He was put on death row. The evidence in the case has been challenged, and the “Free Mumia” movement has been demanding a new trial.
History in the making I was witnessin’
Listenin’, seein’ this old Japanese lady with a sticker on her
walker, said “Free Mumia” and
This was before the Trustafarians were sayin’ it.
The singer appreciates that he was able to hear and see someone who actually lived through the events of the 1960s:
Taking it for granted that we talk about the 60’s and
Never get to talk to anybody who done live this shit and still exist
Yuri had come to talk with the young people. The singer was also there, and after the event was over, he stayed behind and was able to talk with Yuri:
Or better yet, shit, she still resist, speaking to a myriad of young,
dumb and ignorant kids
I was one of ‘em
Stuck around lingering
Said that “It’s a privilege to meet you in person” and
She took my hand, said “It’s good to meet you too”
And when I’m out of school, asked me what I’m gonna do
After she asked him, he thought about it and realized he might not be able to live on the money he made as a musician/singer, so he would probably become a teacher:
I had to think about it, but truth is I knew
That it was something for the youth and shit
Truly I’d probably be a teacher if the music didn’t make enough
To make me wanna gamble on its sustenance
And that’s why I’m writing this, to tell ya'll
From a scholar
When I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama
Holla, swear to my kasamas (He is telling his close friends)
When I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama
The singer also wants to help people in some way:
Imma, serve the people proper
When I grow up I wanna be like Yuri Kochiyama
In the next verse, he talks about seeing a Life magazine that told the story about what happened to Malcolm X that day:
I seen the picture up in Life magazine
You were sittin’ front seat for Malcolm’s last speech
Saw the first man with the shotgun (boom)
Two more came to get the job done
Now, who would’ve thought that it’d be you holding him?
I wonder what you felt when his eyes were going dim
And if he never died, would we know that he exists?
Or would he have been the leader that we always seem to miss?
Now there’s no taking back whatever happens in our midst
You remind me that it’s more than just a martyr and a myth
The singer admires Yuri for never giving up:
You could’ve said it quits many times ever since and you find
There will always be a reason for the fist
The last one to hold him could’ve been somebody else
You’d still be remembered for the people that you helped
They said to keep trying but never losing hope
Revolutionaries die, but the revolution don’t
And it won’t, and I put that
On my momma
‘Cause when I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama…
On 1 June 2014, Yuri Kochiyama passed away at the age of 92, after 70 years of political activism.
VOCABULARY
(Background)
be taken into custody 身柄拘束
internment camp 収容所
swampland 沼地
live up to 予想[評判]通りに行動する
(be) oppressed 虐げられた人々
controversial 物議を醸す
(The Song)
to cop something 盗む
(be) humbled in the presence of その前で謙虚に
brethren - brothers
witnessing - seeing
walker 歩行補助器
Trustafarians 20代の裕福な白人の若者は、親の金を切り崩して生活しているが、仕事、ドラッグ、ファッション、音楽などに関する従来の考えを無視することを選んでいる。(Trust = 信託 ~afarian = はラスタファリアンのような語尾である。)
taking it for granted 当たり前のように
myriad 無数の
dumb 頭が悪い
ignorant 無知
stuck around 待つ
lingering 立ち止まる
privilege 特権
sustenance 糧
scholar 学者
wanna = want to
Kasama a word in Tagalog meaning to be together. Here, it means the singer’s close friends.
imma = I’m going to
(his) eyes were going dim = as he was dying
SOURCE
Fujino, D. C. (2005). HEARTBEAT OF STRUGGLE: The revolutionary life of Yuri Kochiyama. University of Minnesota Press.
Watch an interview with Yuri Kochiyama about her experience in the concentration camps and the day that Malcolm X was assassinated:
https://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/20/civil_rights_activist_yuri_kochiyama_remembers